Does having tattoo make you a deviant? Your mom may think so, and she's right. Well, partially anyhow. A new study of tattooed and/or pierced college students reveal the correlation between having (lots of) body art and deviant behaviors:
Aside from their use of the body as a canvas, the students were asked about various aspects of their behavior, including drug and alcohol use, sexual activity and whether they cheat on tests.
The findings revealed "sharp differences in the levels of deviant behavior among those with just one tattoo vs. those with four or more, and among those with just one to three piercings vs. those with seven or more," reports sociologist Jerome Koch, the paper's lead author. "The level of deviance reported by respondents with low levels of body art is much closer to those with none than to those with multiple tattoos and piercings, or intimate piercings."
"Results indicate that respondents with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or piercings located in their nipples or genitals, were substantially and significantly more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other drugs, and a history of being arrested for a crime," the paper continues. "Less pronounced, but still significant in many cases, was an increased propensity for those with higher incidence of body art to cheat on college work, binge drink and report having had multiple sex partners over the course of their lifetime."
http://www.miller-mccune.com/news/ink-on-skin-doesn-t-necessarily-indicate-sin-1712 - Thanks Julia!
I'd like to see a definition of "deviant" in this article. If having had multiple sex partners makes someone a deviant, then most of us either are deviant or wish we were.
What effin Prissies.
No, and frankly you have to be a moron to think so. The only thing the study really establishes is that people who are "deviants" are more likely to be tattooed, not that tattoos turn people into deviants.
Deviant is a completely useless word as well considering that anything that is not normal is deviant and that no one is normal. It's physically impossible to be normal, you can strive for it but you will never achieve normality.
Further, what classifies as one, two, three or seven tattoos? If I tattoo my entire body in one coherent piece then all I have is one tattoo. If I tattoo seven small stars on my ankle but do them at different times then I have seven tattoos. This study obviously have holes the size of fieldgoals and should not be taken for anything more than a humorous piece on how to do a poor study.
Whoever paid for it should be ashamed of allowing such flawed work to be done at their expense.
Other than the multiple sex partners (3, from the age of 18-21) I don't do any of that. But who cares about that shit anymore. fuck, I know girls who've had 8 in that time span, not to mention guys before then!
Maybe because being prone to stupid choices often results in both tattoos and idiot behavior.
This study would just throw up it's hands at me, since they never considered anyone like me. On the other hand, I'm agnostic, purposely childless, happily married, liberal and educated, so VERY deviant.
My opinion, people with tattoos aren't more deviant. They are only more honest. ;)
@Mr Pumpernickel - thank you. Doesn't logic smell nice?
(For the record, I have quite a few tattoos, have been in jail, and hold a Masters and am a fairly successful human.)
Maybe the conversation should be about stereotypes? Or maybe about that guy who just got glasses tattooed on his face--now that's whack.
Tattoos are so commonplace these days that it's hard to prove that they cause anything. Personally, I have one tattoo, one that is very symbolic to me and reminds me of my faith and my heritage. Am I a deviant? Naw, I'm a very shy and reserved person most of the time.
They are saying there is a correlation, and only in cases with heavy tattooing/piercing. And in their study, only 4 percent qualified as heavy tattooing, so calling it commonplace is not really all that valid (although 14% had some form of tattoos).
It never stated that having a tattoo suddenly is going to make you wanna go binge drink, rob a bank, and then find a threesome somewhere. It did say that there was a significantly higher ratio of these instances in people that are heavily tattood. Yes, you can be a promiscuous pot-head without tattoos, but if you were in a mall and asked to spot out someone who was a binge drinking pot-head, then your best bet would be on the guy (or girl) with heavy tattoos.
Though I do think the sex with multiple partners being a deviant behaviour is pretty silly, it's far too outdated.
That's because people with lots of tattoos are DANGEROUS AND COOL. Duh.
Perhaps you would, but that says more about you than it does about other people. For instance any rational person would look for the physiological signs of someone who is an alcoholic or "pot-head" and not at what these people choose to wear on their sleeves. I wonder which one of us is more likely to be correct.